After becoming her daughter Sara’s full-time caregiver, Elen Edgerly was inspired to launch a state-wide support network for others tending to loved ones. (Photo: David Lazar).

For Rochester’s Ellen Edgerly, the world changed one frigid February afternoon in 1992 when an accident during a family ice fishing trip on a local pond nearly claimed her beautiful 11-year-old daughter Sara.

For Sara – a Girl Scout and avid soccer player – the incident, which trapped her under the ice nearly 40 minutes, would land her in hospital care for two years and leave her with irreversible brain and lung damage. For Ellen, a rural mail carrier, part-time waitress and PTA mom, it would transform her into her daughter’s full-time caregiver and today the state’s leading voice for families facing similar challenges. “I used to be pretty quiet,” Edgerly says. “It isn’t how I would’ve wished it, but it is amazing how Sara’s accident has made me into an advocate and given me the ability to speak up.”

Indeed, for many years, Edgerly, 51, quietly cared for her daughter (now 29), able to communicate only through blinks and gazes, working around the clock with part-time caregivers to clear her lungs every few hours and give her the love and physical and mental stimulation she still needed. It was as a volunteer with the Brain Injury Association of NH, however, that Edgerly’s enthusiasm caught the eye of leaders who hired her on as the nonprofit’s statewide grassroots organizer. There, Edgerly soon noticed another group not receiving the attention it needed.

“Over my years, I met a lot of fellow caregivers, and realized that some of them had almost become invisible people,” she says. “They had such full plates caring for loved ones and tending to their needs that they could very easily begin to feel isolated. The average caregiver’s lifespan is 10 years less than a person without those duties. It can be very lonely. I wanted other people in those situations to know they’re not alone.”

So in 2006, Edgerly launched the Coalition of Caring, a statewide support network for family caregivers. With an estimated 212,000 caregivers in NH alone, many struggling in silence to tend to loved ones with AIDS, cancer, brain injuries and developmental disabilities, Edgerly’s idea was to create an annual conference – a day of escape with a dinner, workshops, games, massages, even Reiki, not to mention practical tips, resources and emotional support. “Family caregivers save the state millions of dollars each year,” Edgerly says. “They’re a valued resource that we need to leave feeling energized, empowered and appreciated.”

This year’s third annual caregiver’s conference will be held Wednesday, November 4, at the Lake Opechee Inn and Spa in Laconia. For more information or to attend, visit www.coalitionofcaring.org.